Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 20

Michele Oka Doner Stoneware Figurines Female Torso w/Legs Phallic Shaped Spear

About the Item

Two Untitled pieces made of ceramic with black matt markings are exquisite and purely Michele Oka Doner works. On September 22, 2022, Michelle Oka Doner was a lecturer at the University of Michigan's Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series in which she showed images of this very set remarking that this "was my favorite set of pieces" and she wished she still had them. The warm creamy color of the unglazed ceramic contrasts with the back matt markings of incised linear designs that identify Ms. Oka Doner's artistic sculptures. The one form can be seen as female because of the slightly bulging breasts, hips and thighs reminiscent of the most ancient pieces of sculpture in existence - the venius forms - most of which lack, like Oka Doner's, a head, or feet, or arms. The companion piece, a long phallic shaped form, is also reminiscent of the most basic shape to identify the male - the penis. The female form measures 17 x 5 x 3 and the male form measures 21 x 3 x 3. Michele Oka Doner (born in Miami Beach, Florida, United States) is an American artist and author who works in a variety of media including sculpture, prints, drawings, functional objects and video. She has also worked in costume and set design and has created over 40 public and private permanent art installations. She is best known for her “A Walk On The Beach,” a one and a quarter mile long bronze and terrazzo concourse at Miami International Airport. It is composed of over 9000 bronzes embedded in terrazzo with mother-of-pearl. At one and quarter linear miles, it is one of the largest artworks in the world. She is granddaughter of painter, Samuel Heller. She attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her art instructor Milton Cohen was experimenting with The Space Theater and George Manupelli began the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Their students were engaged in poetry, dance, light, music, all combined into a unitary vision, a motif that shaped Oka Doner's student years and is characteristic of her work today. She participated in a Manupelli experimental film, a "Map Read" performance with art drawing instructor Al Loving and Judsonite dancer Steve Paxton as well as several "Happenings." Another influence was art historian and Islamic scholar, Oleg Grabar, who illustrated how patterns in architecture are able to dissolve space. She received her BS and MFA from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 2008 she was a U of M Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan; Germans Van Eck Gallery, New York; Diane Brown Gallery, New York; Art & Industrie Gallery, New York; Willoughby, Marlborough Gallery, New York; Studio Stefania Miscetti in Rome; and Gloria Luria Gallery in Miami, Florida. During the 1960s Michele Oka Doner was living and working in Detroit, Michigan, where she became acquainted with Charles McGee and his gallery located in the Fisher Building. They became collaborators in his artists' studio and both began a new adventure of making handmade paper. Recent solo exhibitions include the Manitoga Arts Center, Garrison, New York (2019), the Marlborough Gallery, New York (2019), the Perez Art Museum Miami (2016), the David Gill Gallery, London (2016), the Marlborough Gallery, New York (2015), Christies gallery, New York (2014), the Dieu Donne Gallery, New York, NY, where she was interviewed by artist, Adam Fuss, and at Miami Biennale (2011). Her first video, A Walk on the Beach premiered at Art Basel Miami Beach (2011) in the public screenings "Art Video" program in SoundScape Park on the 7,000 square foot outdoor projection wall of the New World Center.
  • Creator:
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 3 in (7.62 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
  • Sold As:
    Set of 2
  • Style:
    Modern (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    2000s
  • Condition:
  • Seller Location:
    Bloomfield Hills, MI
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU7781233590532

More From This Seller

View All
Heinrich & Co. Porcelain Figurine "EAGLE OWL"
By Heinrich & Co. 1
Located in Bloomfield Hills, MI
"Eagle Owl" is a fine porcelain figurine depicting an owl about to depart from a branch to attack its prey. The details are exquisite and set off by 24 karat gold. It is produced by ...
Category

Mid-20th Century German Animal Sculptures

Materials

Gold

Hutchenreuther Porcelain Figurine Fritz Klee "OWL"
By Professor Fritz Klee
Located in Bloomfield Hills, MI
The 24 carat gilded owl was created by Professor Fritz Klee around 1920 for Hutschenreuther Porcelain. This beautifully crafted piece is unusual in that sur...
Category

Vintage 1910s German Animal Sculptures

Materials

Gold

Hutschenreuther-Selb Porcelain Figurine "THREE DUCKS"
By Hutschenreuther
Located in Bloomfield Hills, MI
Three Ducks is a particular charming moment in time captured by the artist of this sculpture. Three ducks beautifully rendered, somewhat plump, and out for a walk perhaps at the edge...
Category

Vintage 1920s German Animal Sculptures

Materials

Porcelain, Paint

Royal Doulton Red Flambe Porcelain Figurine "TIGER"
By Royal Doulton
Located in Bloomfield Hills, MI
Over 500 years ago Chinese potters first experimented with copper oxide glazes to create a fiery red finish that became known as Flambe. When these Sung Dynasty (AD 960 to1279) porce...
Category

Mid-20th Century English Animal Sculptures

Materials

Porcelain

Royal Doulton Red Flambe Porcelain Figurine "OWL"
By Royal Doulton
Located in Bloomfield Hills, MI
Over 500 years ago Chinese potters first experimented with copper oxide glazes to create a fiery red finish that became known as Flambe. When these Sung Dynasty (AD 960 to1279) porce...
Category

Mid-20th Century English Animal Sculptures

Materials

Porcelain

Hutschenreuther Porcelain Figurine "JEALOUSLY" Karl Tutter 1938
By Karl Tutter
Located in Bloomfield Hills, MI
"Jealously" is a porcelain figurine from Hutschenreuther of a nude woman and two fighting bears. Sculpted in exquisite detail by Karl Tutter whose name appears on the surface base. ...
Category

Mid-20th Century German Art Deco Animal Sculptures

Materials

Gold

You May Also Like

Michele Oka Doner Bronze with gold Leaf "Terrible Chair", 1990
By Michele Oka Doner
Located in New York, NY
One of Michele Oka Doner chairs from her Terrible Chair Series. Unique bonze wiuth gold leaf sculpture from 1990. Sculpture inpired in nature's thorned branches. The artist is known ...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze, Gold Leaf

Solid Bronze Female Torso
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Solid bronze sculpture. This piece features the female form. A beautiful display piece for a shelf or paperweight. Signed G. Shaw. Dimensions 2.5" width x 1.25" depth x 4.25" height...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Female Figurine Sculpture by Hassan Heshmat Egypt 1960s Blue Teal Stoneware
By Hassan Heshmat
Located in Stockholm, SE
Sculpture by Hassan Heshmat, Egypt. 1960's. Stoneware. Unique. Dimensions: H: 52 cm/ 20 1/2''
Category

Vintage 1960s Egyptian Mid-Century Modern Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Stoneware

Vintage Ceramic Female Torso Sculpture
Located in Delray Beach, FL
This striking Vintage Ceramic Female Torso Sculpture showcases a captivating textured finish with iridescent tones over a black and dark gray color palette. Its detailed craftsmanshi...
Category

Vintage 1980s Unknown Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic

Modern Marble Female Torso Figurative Sculpture
Located in New York, NY
A substantial modern female figurative marble torso sculpture piece by artist/sculptor Helga Brinitzer, circa 20th century, New York. Piece is solid marble, made from one piece, and ...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Marble

Female Torso Sculpture by Brajak Vitberg
Located in Geneve, CH
Female Torso sculpture by Brajak Vitberg 10 Pieces Dimensions: Ø 35 x H 65 cm Materials: white or black cotton lampshade, cotton wiring Bijelic and Brajak are two architects fr...
Category

2010s European Modern Busts

Materials

Clay

Recently Viewed

View All